Italian Flavored Red Lentil and Brown Rice Soup and Our Day

Dan loves red lentil soup in a tomato base. So …. I make it often since it makes him happy. Since he was home for lunch today and the weather was gray and rainy I decided soup would be a good choice. This is a fast soup (45 minutes cooking and 2 minutes of prep). It is also something that most people can make from things they have on hand. Also this is a very budget friendly soup. I think it is perfect for a cool rainy day. Here is what I did:

Italian Flavored Red Lentil and Brown Rice Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ cup red lentils
½ cup brown rice
4 or 5 cups water (start with 4 cups and add more if necessary)
14 ounces of tomato sauce
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely diced (about 1 cup)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow the garlic to stand for 10 minutes after you smash them so the allicin can develop since heat stops the process)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, dry
Salt and pepper, to taste
Hot pepper flakes or wet hots, if desired
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, if you want a Southern Italian flavor
Spinach, julienned, if you want added nutrition (I added about 4 cups for both nutrition and color)

Directions:

I toss everything into the pot together (except the spinach) and simmer until the rice and lentils are done. This takes about 45 minutes. If you are using the spinach add it just before serving so the heat of the soup wilts the leaves. This soup would also be good topped with tofu sour cream or tofu tahini sauce/dip.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 433.21
Calories From Fat (6%) - 25.9

Total Fat - 3.11g
Saturated Fat - 0.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1070.11mg
Potassium - 1197.73mg
Total Carbohydrates - 85.7g
Fiber - 11.67g
Sugar - 11.54g
Protein - 19.95g

Comments:

This is a very filling soup and makes a huge serving. We had it today as our meal, no salad. If you are looking for something easy and filling this is a good choice.

Out and about:

After we gulped down the soup we need to run out the door. Before the follow up appointment with the doctor we decided to run by the health food store on the way. After the appointment we stopped at Marshalls and Costco since they were both close. We “needed” a few things from Costco, nothing much since we stopped there last week. Still I managed a cart that was almost full.

Insane right? How do two people manage to eat so much produce? I really have no idea but somehow we do it.

Dinner:

We didn’t get home until after 7:30pm. By the time everything was put away it was almost 8pm and we were both starving. Since I didn’t have any time to think about dinner I made a really fast veggie pasta with peanut sauce.

I didn’t measure things because we were famished but it was an extremely simple meal. While the pasta water came to a boil I chopped the onion, garlic, fresh ginger, broccoli, carrot and red bell pepper. I water sautéed those once the pasta was cooking. To the veggies I added a little reduced fat peanut butter and liquid aminos. I finished the plate with some black sesame seeds and dinner was on in 30 minutes or less. This is one of my favorite fast meals, not too exciting or exotic just really tasty.  When I have more time I prefer to have this over brown rice rather than whole wheat pasta, but tonight speed was of the essence.

Unrelated note:

Tomorrow morning is going to be a little hectic but should slow down after lunch. I will be back tomorrow as soon as I get a few minutes. I hope you all had great day. Talk to you later.